Mud-lug attachment to vehicle-wheels.



D. D. DICKINSUN.

MUD LUG ATTACHMENT TO VEHICLE WHEELS.

APPLICATJION FILED AUG-2.19l- V. 1 y L Pate/ umd heb. QQ, T919.

I 2 SHEETS-SHEET 1.

D. D. D|CKINSDN.

MUD LUG ATTACHMENT TO VEHICLE WHEELS.

2 SHEETS-SHEET 2.

lAPPLICATION FILED AUG-2, I9I7.

' Patented Feb. 20, 191,9

mwwboz anne te tessere.

Specification of Letters latent.

Patented Feb.' 25, 1193.9.

Application elet?. ingaat $3, 1917. Serial En. ltl.

for one of its objects to provide a simply.

constructed device which may be applied without material structuralchange to wheels of various forms and sizes, and includes a plurality oflugs disposed trans versely of the wheel and adapted to engage theground as the wheel advances, the lugs extending beyond the normal pathot' the wheel at one or both sides to increase the width of tread orgrip of the wheel and 'correspondingly increase its tractive force,

and engage the ground where it is ,firmer and harder and thus preventslipping.

`irnother object oi the invention is to provide a device of thischaracter which may be readily attached to or detached. `from thev wheelrim without disconnecting any of 'the v parts of the wheel, and whichmay be adjusted upon the wheel and. thus adapt the device vto wheels ofvarying sizes and shapes.

Another object of the invention is to pro-I vide a. device of thischaracter wherein provision is madev for detachably connecting v vthetransverse mud engaging members to the wheel tire and rim so thatmembers of various forms and sizes may be appiied withm out detachingthe wheel engaging portion.

With these and other objects in view, the invention consists in certainnovel features of construction, as hereinafter shown and described andthen specifica ly pointed out in the claims.

The invention may be applied without maH terial structural change towheel constructed Withan ordinary iielly and tire, to automobile truckWheels having solid rubber tires, or to automobile Wheels havinginflatable tires or casings, and I do not, therefore, desireto limit theinvention to any specific forni of wheel to which it may be applied. Forthe purpose of illustration the improved device is shown applied -to' aconventional auto,- mobile tire, and in the drawings- Figure i is a sideelevation of onev ot the improved attachments applied to a section of anautomobile tire;

D. DioiiiNsoN,

Fig. 2 is an end elevation of the same A with the telly and tire casingin section on the line 2-2 of Fig. l;

Fig. 3 is a side elevation of a portion of.

a wheel with the invention applied;

Figs. t, 5, 6 and 7 are 'det-ached perspective views of various forms ofthe ground engaging lugs;

Fig. 8 is a detached perspective View of one or the shells;

Fig. 9 is a View of the blank from which the clamp 'bolt rotating memberis constructed. f

Fig. l is a detail illustrating-the marmer whereby one oi' the wingextensions of the housing isswingingly coupled to the shell.

The pneumatic tire casing is represented conventionally at 10, the rimat 1l, the felly at land spokes of the wheel at 1.3.

The improved device comprises a plurality ort shell members, representedasa whole at 14, and bearing over the outer portion ot' the tire casingl0 and with outturned inner edges -16, the latter being formed with aplurality of eut-out portions as shown.

Any required number of the shell members Hand their attachments may beemployed.

l Generally 'one will be disposed between each pair ot the spokes, butthe number may be varied as required. Themud lug attachments areprecisely alike and a description oi one will suffice for` all.

The members lei are 'disposed at uniformly spaced intervals entirelyvaround the Wheel with their confronting ends a short distance apart andai'e slightly outwardly curved at their ends as shown at 17, to preventthe` shell members from biting into the tire casj ing.

Disposed over the felly member 12 from inside the wheel are bearingdevices ,18 which are' laterallyV extended as shown at 19, and bear uponthe'rim 1lV in close proximity to the telly l2, the outturned portions19 thus' serving as bearing elements to increase the Contact between theportion 18 and the exposed portionsY of the rim 11.

Bearing' over the member 18 is a` housing 20 having lateral Wings Si()1and 9,02, the Wing 202 being sliortertlian the Wing 201,. At its freeedge 'the Wing 202 if formed into rolls 21'* in spaced relation', whilethewing 201 is iiormed into a roll 2l, the latter being extended at theends to projectinto the tere los" aie

minal relied-over portions 13st, one sides@ united to the member 14 atone side, and is y`remlered sufficiently flexible to move therewithunder the strains to which the device will be subjected when in use. V l5 The wing portions 20L-202 `of vthe member 2() aresubstantially alikeexcept that one is shorter than the other, the shorter side beingdivided b v/ a central opening into parallel sidesA with theQrolled-overportions forming hinge members.

Extending between the member 2O2 and the rolled-over portion 1G of themember 14 is a `link plate, indicated as a whole at 23, having one edgeprovided with rolledv 15 over portions inspared relation,lleavingopenings to receive the rolled-over portions 214 ot' the member 202. Apintle 205 extends through the rolled-over portions '21*L and and thushingedly couples the member 23 to the member 202, -while the rolledoverportion 21 of the member 201 at the opposite side eoacts with therolled-over portion 15 to form a hinged connection between the member 14and 2O1 at the left.

`At its outer edge the link plate is turned inwardly as shown at 24, toengage the intermediate portion of the turned-over portion l16 oli themen'iber 14, while the terminals of the turned-over portion 1G,in'dicated :11125, are projected at a less angle than the intermediateportion, so that the por-.

tions bear against the ends of thelink plate 23, and 'thus preventlateral movement between the parts 14 and The member 18 isl trough-likein shape with the side edges turned outwardly, as

v indicated at 26, and the ends extended and turned at right-angles tothe body portion of the member 18 as shown at Q7, the portions Q6 and 27at each end oi" the portion 18 serving as guards to prevent longitudinaldisplacement of the memberA 18 relative to the elly housing portion 20.

The member 2() is provided with a lboss 28 internally threaded toreceive a clamp screw 29, the latter extending through the boss 28 andthe adjacent portion of the member 20 and bearing against the tellyengaging portion of the member 18. By

this meansit will be obvious that when the clamp screw 29 is rotated themember 18 will be forced against the telly and the rim and a strain willbev applied to the member 14 to draw the latter into close Contact withthe tire, and thus clamp the device firmly to the wheel. The outturnedportions 19 operate to extend the base of the member 18' where ,l itcontactswith the rim 11, and thus prevents undue strain on the latterand likewise prevents the edges of the member 18 from biting into therim. At its outer end the clamp screw 29 is provided with a head 30,

preferably square or in other form "than round. Means are"` provided forrotating theelamp screw and consists m an attachment formed of sheetmetal constructed initially as shownin Fig. 9 and divided by a pluralityof' clefts to form as manyvrelatively wide portions 3l as there aresides to the nut and a corresponding number of relatively narrowportions 32 corresponding to the corners of the nut. The Screw rotatingmember is provided with a central aperture 33 which engages around thebolt beneath the head 30. 'The portions 31 are then bent up against thesides of 'the nut and portions 32 bent up against 4the corners of thenut. The vportions 31-32 ,are of greater length than the thickness ofthe nut, so that when the portions '3l-32 are bent up against the nutthey project beyond the -outer face of the same. The narrow portions 31are then further bent overthe outer face of the nut and thus serve asanchors or locking members to firmly clamp the attachment to the head ofthe'nut with the outer parts of the portions 31 with their edges inspaced relation and projecting beyond the other afford means for theapplif cation of an implement other than a wrench to enable the clampscrew to be rotated.

Attached to each of the members 14 if:

a mud hook holding bracket, preferably pressed from a strip or plate ofsheet metal,

and comprising af body portion 34 with elvtended arms 35 and H-shapedclefts whereby tongues 36 are produced. The projections 35 are bentobliquely to the longitudinal 'plane of the body 34 and riveted orotherwise secured at 37 to the shell portion 14, while the tongues 3Gare bent outwardly to provide holding means for the road or mud engagingmembers or lugs Each of the lugs is substantially T-shaped transverselyand preferably bent from a vsingle strip of heavy sheet or plate metal.bers are bent to form webs 38 of two thicknesses ot' the metal andlateralwebs 39 of one thickness of the metal. The webs 39 are designedto be inserted beneath the tongues 36 while the two-part web 38 projectsbeyond the outerv face of the attachment. The lugs are of greater Widththan the attaching member 34 and are arranged with their excess lengthextending entirely at one side of the attaching member, the extendingortion. projecting beyond the outer faces o the wheels to which they areattached. Each yof' the web portions 39 is provided with U-v shapedclefts whereby ton ues v40 ,are released and adapted to be ent at right.angles to thc-Web portions 39 and .bear

The lug memagainst the adjacent edge of the body` 3480i? v the attachingmember.4 By this means the mud lug members are prevented from movementin one direction relative to thel at#` taching members.

The lug portions of the-improveddevice vmay be of any required size andmodled invention to adapt them to Wheels of various sizes and forms. Forinstance, in some forms ofA automobiles the mud. guards of the wheelsare disposed so near the automobile wheels that it Will be necessary toform bends in-the projecting portions of the mud .lugs as illustrated inFig. 4 but this bending lofthe mud lugs to adapt the device to parts ofautomobiles of varying shapes and sizes would not constitute a departurefrom the principle of the invention.

Another permissible modification is illustrated in Fig. 7 in which theweb members 39 are extended laterally at one end and the extendedportion bent as shown at 41, to serve as stops to limit the movement ofthe mud .lugs in one direction, the bent portion 4].k

- employed between the portions with which the fellies and spokesContact to protect the latter from abrasion.

l The member 34 extends to a greater distance at the projecting side ofthe member 38 than at the other side as illustrated in Fig. 2, toincrease the Width of the bearing or support for the mud lugs or hooks.

The ground engaging members 38 by extending beyond the ground engagingportions of the tire or tire casing, materially increase the width ofthetreafd or the grip of the wheel and correspondingly increase thetractive force of the Wheel. I

The mud lu s are thus caused to engage the iirmer and arder portions ofthe groundat the sides of the normal track of the Wheel.

Having thus describedthe invention, what is claimed as new is:

l. An attachment of the class described comprising ashell member adaptedto en-y gage over a wheel tire, means for coupling said shell to saidWheel tire, a bracket device including a body portion having a pluralityof arms secured to said shell and a plurality of coacting tonguesprojecting therefrom, and a ground engaging member including lateralwebs engaging beneath said tongues and coupled thereby to said bracketdevice. y

2. An attachment of the class described comprising a shell memberadapted to engage over a wheel tire, a guard member bearing over thefelly and having laterally directed projections, a member including ahousing portion engaging over the .guard member and havingcoactinggivihg -portions bearing upon the extensions` of the guardmember, means for coupling said wing portions to said shell, andclamping means carried by said housing portion and `operating to attachthe shell to the Wheel felly.

3. An attachment of the class described` comprising a shell memberadapted to engage over a wheel tire, a member including a housingportion adapted to engage over a wheel felly and having lateral wings,means for coupling said lateral wings to said shell, a. guard memberwithin said housing portion and having combined guard wings and stopsengaging the same, and-clamping means carried by said housing portionand 'operating to compress the guard member against the wheel felly andthereby attach the shell to the Wheel tire.

In testimony whereof I affix my signature.-

DEAN D. vDioKrNsoN. [ne]

